The gentle sound of the bell is clear and present. It lingers on the air and slowly fades into silence. That is the voice of a monastery in India. At beautiful Thiksey Monastery in Ladakh, you can enjoy the unique privilege of participating in the Morning Prayer ceremony at sunrise. […]

To wallow is defined as to roll oneself about in a lazy, relaxed, or ungainly manner, and to take unrestrained pleasure. Excessive wallowing in our culture is generally frowned upon… unless of course you happen to be an elephant. At some point, we have all witnessed firsthand elephants or seen images […]

As much of the travel industry begins to descend on Las Vegas for one of the premier, weeklong travel shows, we took a minute to look back at last year’s event in terms of the amount of steps we took during that time. One of our team actually wore a pedometer last […]

We are often asked what makes a good vacation for children. Of course, much depends on the interests and ages of the children involved. But kids are natural explorers, and they are anything but passive. They want to be everywhere; see, touch, taste, smell everything. A great adventure vacation for […]

Each day, more than three million tourists cross international borders, and every year more than one billion people travel abroad. Simply put, travel and tourism combined are now one of the world’s largest industries. To make sure that the power of travel is harnessed as a positive force for people […]

The spotlight of Southeast Asia’s Khmer Empire always shines brightest on the fabled Angkor Wat. But for a brief moment in time – for some 16 years in the mid-tenth century, Koh Ker was the heart of the entire empire, which encompassed much of what today is Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, […]

The odds are pretty good that you don’t know about Kuelap. Yet, it is one of the largest ancient stone complexes in the western hemisphere. Those who do know refer to it as the Machu Picchu of the north. Just where is this remarkably unknown place? Northern Peru is home […]

We are in the midst of peak picnic season in North America. Picnics have long been a popular summer activity. Early in the 19th century, a fashionable group of Londoners formed the Picnic Society, where members met, each providing a share of the entertainment and refreshments. Beginning in the 1830s, […]

The first known use of the word independence was in 1640, some 136 years before the Continental Congress declared the 13 American colonies to be a new nation, and no longer part of the British Empire. The United States of America traditionally celebrates that day on July 4th. But we were far […]

The force of a crocodile’s bite is more powerful than that of a Rottweiler and even a great white shark. In fact, the immense force of a croc’s bite is the strongest bite of any animal on earth. A 5.5 meter/18 foot Nile crocodile’s bit was measured at more than […]